While many fans of the Dodgers continue to express their disappointment over the team’s spending this winter, skipper Dave Roberts remains upbeat, especially after the acquisition of center fielder A.J. Pollock last week.

With the Bryce Harper sweepstakes still captivating the baseball world, the Los Angeles Dodgers are in the thick of a free agent decision that can alter the league landscape for potentially the next decade.

Since the moment last season when the Dodgers appeared they would stay under the 2018 Luxury Tax threshold, rumors began to swirl linking the team to Bryce Harper, one of the headlining commodities of this winter’s free agent class. And, as impractical as it would be to sign the 26-year-old, indications suggest that the club is still doing its due diligence in pursuing the outfielder, despite the onslaught of criticism from pundits and fans.

On Saturday, the Dodgers announced that they had traded four players to the Braves in exchange for Matt Kemp. It was a rare trade that worked for both sides, in that both teams got the salary dump they were looking for, plus the Braves got some players that can be useful to them in 2018 and beyond. Yesterday we touched on what it meant to the players that were traded and where it left the roster. But what does it mean for the Dodgers going forward?

While the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ 25-man roster for the NLDS, including the initial trio in the starting rotation, has already been set, the Washington Nationals have yet to commit to a working roster or even a starting pitching scheme beyond Max Scherzer in Game 1.